Dear Colleagues,
I hope that each of you have had a wonderful summer! We have a number of initiatives occurring within UNC Children’s as well as several new faces. This month I had the pleasure of attending the NC Pediatric Society meeting in Asheville, NC. Please thank Kenya McNeal-Trice; she did an outstanding job leading the program and several faculty, as well as residents, presented at the meeting.
In September, please plan to attend the Department of Pediatrics Faculty meeting on Tuesday, September 17
th
from 7:30 to 8:30 AM. Dr. Wesley Burks will be presenting at this Faculty meeting. That same week, on September 19
th
, I plan to present a State of the Department address during the Grand Rounds slot. I look forward to seeing everyone there.
Thank you for all that you do!
With sincere gratitude,
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Pediatric Missions Update
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Please welcome our new faculty!
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Jacquelyn Baskin-Miller, MD, MS
Clinical Associate Professor,
Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
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Dr. Jacquelyn Baskin-Miller joined the UNC Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology on August 1
st. She earned her MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and completed her Pediatric Residency at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore. Following the completion of a Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellowship at Children’s Hospital Los Angles (CHLA), Dr. Baskin-Miller continued as a faculty member of the Pediatric Hematology Oncology division at Keck School of Medicine at CHLA. Dr. Baskin-Miller’s interests include Hemoglobinopathies, Bone marrow failure, red cell disorders, transition of care for AYA patients, health services and health disparities research along with international health. Dr. Baskin-Miller will be working in clinics here at the Chapel Hill campus.
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Britney Cherry, MSN, NNP
Advanced Practice Provider III
Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
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Britney received her Bachelor’s
degree in Health Education in 2010 and a Master of Science in Nursing in 2013 from East Carolina University. She comes to us with experience as
a NICU
staff nurse at Vidant Medicine Center in Greenville, NC, as well as experience as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and most recently at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. We welcome Britney to the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine.
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Robert Clemons, MD, MPH
Clinical Assistant Professor
Pediatric Emergency Department
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Dr. Robert Clemons has joined the UNC Pediatric Emergency Department. He completed a Pediatric Residency and Emergency Medicine Fellowship programs at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Dr. Clemons’s clinical interests include pediatric asthma and improving health disparities for pediatric patients. His wife and two daughters Emma (4) and Ava (3 months) join him in the move to Chapel Hill.
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Shawna Evans (Kristey), NNP
Advanced Practice Provider III
Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
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Kristey received her first Bachelor’s degree in Sports Medicine followed by a second accelerated Bachelor’s in Nursing, both at UNC. After working as a NICU RN and Leader in the UNC Neonatal Critical Care Center (NCCC) for over 15 years, she earned her Master of Nursing Science degree with Neonatal Nurse Practitioner concentration from East Carolina University. We are delighted that Kristey will continue her work here at UNC in the NCCC in her new role as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.
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Carrie Mayo, NNP
Advanced Practice Provider III
Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
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Carrie received her
Bachelor of Science in Nursing from University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 2010. She graduated from the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, Doctor of Nursing Practice combined program in May of 2019. Carrie brings with her experience as a NICU RN and Clinical Research Coordinator at Duke, a Preschool RN, along with additional N
ICU RN
experience at Ochsner, and Woman’s Hospitals, both in Baton Rouge, LA. We welcome Carrie to our Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine team.
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Virginia Moyer, MD
Clinical Professor
Division of Hospital Pediatrics
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Dr. Virginia A. Moyer is Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Adjunct Professor of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, having recently retired as the Vice President for Maintenance of Certification and Quality at the American Board of Pediatrics. She graduated from Rice University and from Baylor College of Medicine. She trained in Pediatrics at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC and subsequently joined the faculty of Baylor College of Medicine and of the University of Texas at Houston. Dr. Moyer is a former member (2002-2008) and chair (2011-2014) of the US Preventive Services Task Force, and is the former Associate Editor of the journal Pediatrics. She was the first Chief Quality Officer for Medicine at Texas Children's Hospital. Dr. Moyer also serves as a liaison member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. Among her awards are the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine award at UT Houston, being named a Time Magazine “Person of the Year/People Who Mattered” in 2011, and being named a Rice University Alumni Laureate in 2016. We welcome Dr. Moyer to the new Division of Hospital Pediatrics.
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Vivek Shenoy, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Pediatric Gastroenterology
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Dr. Vivek Shenoy joined the Division of Gastroenterology on August 12
th. He obtained his MD from Brown University in 2012 and then completed residency at Tufts University in 2015. After a yearlong stint as a community hospitalist, he joined the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) for GI Fellowship. During fellowship he was supported by the CF Foundation, which allowed him to pursue his interest in pancreatic disease and develop a clinical and research interest in CF-related GI disease. He is very excited to join the faculty at UNC, where he plans to develop service lines for CF and pancreas patients and hopes to eventually establish a multidisciplinary pediatric pancreas program. He is also looking forward to collaborating with the UNC’s CF Research and Translation Core Center to investigate GI tract and pancreatic mucins.
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Shiva Zargham, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Pediatric Emergency Medicine
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Dr. Shiva Zargham grew up in Greensboro and attended UNC-Greensboro as an undergraduate. She then attended Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University where she also completed a pediatric residency and served two years as clinical faculty. Later, Dr. Zargham completed Pediatric Emergency Medicine training at the University of Louisville. Her interests include education, simulation, and debriefing. Her husband, Amir, has joined WakeMed as a trauma/critical care surgeon this month and they now live in Cary with their 4 year-old Sophie, almost 2 year old Frenchie named Donut, and one on the way any day now!
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Congratulations to
Dr. Mike Contarino,
Dr. Meg Kihlstrom and Dr. Amy Liu
who just graduated from the Teaching Scholars Program. All three presented excellent projects at the graduation ceremony.
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Congratulations to
Dr. Diya Jost, Dr. Chris Iskander and
Dr. Melissa Wooten who were awarded Kaiser Permanente Excellence in Teaching Awards at the School of Medicine annual Whitehead Lecture and Awards Day.
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Pediatrics residents had a tremendous showing at the NC Pediatric Society Annual meeting. UNC residents accounted for 25 of the total 64 resident posters accepted for presentation across the state. Four of the posters were highlighted among the Top 10 posters scored.
Dr. Melissa Wooten (PGY-2 Med-Peds resident) took home the 2
nd place prize of all posters in the resident poster competition for her poster entitled,
“Propelling Adolescents Towards Careers in Healthcare: A High School to Healthcare Pipeline Program”
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Congratulations to
Dr. Camille Ehre
, who received one of two 2018 Vertex Cystic Fibrosis Research Innovation Awards for independent research programs. Funds will be used to support Dr. Ehre’s project, “Impact of CFTR inhibition and rescue on airway and gut mucus”.
Congratulations to
Dr. Matthew Laughon
who has received an NIH K24 award funding his project, “Mentorship of Early-Career Clinicians in Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia Drug Therapies”.
Congratulations to
Dr. Marianne Muhlebach
who received a multi-year award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to support her research, “Assessing effectiveness of CF Infection Prevention and Control Guidelines.”
Congratulations to
Dr. Martin McCaffrey
and the Perinatal Quality Collaborative of North Carolina. New funding awarded from BCBS of North Carolina will support quality improvement initiatives aimed at reducing the primary cesarean section rate and improving newborn hypoglycemia prevention across the state.
Congratulations to
Dr. Dennis Leung
,
Pediatric Critical Care Medicine fellow,
who was awarded the position of Katz-Denny Fellow within the Duke University/University of North Carolina Unified Program for Therapeutics in Children (UPTiC) T32 program.
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The
Children’s Research Institute
will host an open house at its new physical location. Please join on the 3
rd
floor of the Mary Ellen Jones building on Tuesday, October 1
st
at 5:00pm. Guest speaker
Andrea Hayes-Jordan, MD
will address
“What is the organ of origin of pediatric sarcomatosis: Focus on a rare form of pediatric sarcomatosis.”
The
CRI,
the
Program for Rare and Interstitial Lung Disease
, and the
Program for Precision Medicine in Health Care
will co-host visiting speaker,
Stephen Kingsmore, MD, DSc
, on
Sept 10 at 12:15pm in Bioinformatics for his talk: “
Rapid Precision Medicine for Infants in ICUs”
A collaborative grant supported by the
CRI
, The
Genetic Disorders of Mucociliary Clearance Consortium (GDMCC)
held its kickoff meeting at
PCD On the Move:
Advances in Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia Research, Diagnosis & Care
last week.
The
Pediatric Clinical Research Unit (CRU)
continues to conduct community outreach to educate pediatric providers about actively enrolling studies in addition to latest research findings that may benefit patients. Currently a test pilot of the Oral Bacterial Extract for the Prevention of Wheezing Lower Respiratory Tract Illness (ORBEX) study will identify best processes to recruit from primary care providers in Raleigh, Durham, and Holly Springs.
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Save the Date!
A full day clinical symposium on the State of Transgender Health at UNC will occur on October 25
th
at the Carolina Ballroom in Morrisville. Dr. Nina Jain has helped put together a fantastic line-up of speakers discussing patient care from pediatrics through adulthood, including psychological support, medical care and surgical management. A variety of professional credits will be offered for attending.
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Our Administrative Directors have newly defined roles...
Britt Mann,
Director of Clinical Operations and Outreach
Charlotte Weaver,
Director of Communications and Information Management
Please congratulate
Britt Mann
who was just appointed
Director of Clinical Operations and Outreach
. In this role, she will provide direction and administration for clinical and business operations to ensure the success of the clinical and outreach programs. This is a new cross-functional role that collaborates across multiple teams, departments, and hospitals within UNC and across the state.
Please congratulate
Charlotte Weaver
who has recently been appointed
Director of Communication and Information Management
. In this role, she will be directing various means of communication internal and external to the department (websites, newsletters, and contributions to news outlets) to highlight the wonderful work performed throughout the department. She will also manage various internal data sources to improve administrative accuracy and efficiency.
The Research Administration Team is now fully staffed!
Mandy DuPont
(formerly Beaver) was selected to fill the role of Associate Director for Research Administration during a recent open recruitment.
Velma Burden
and
Jonia Sanders
joined the team in August and we await
Harriett McCarter’s
arrival in late September. Please be on the lookout for division assignments for our new team members in coming months.
The
NC Children’s Developmen
t and fundraising team has worked hard to execute the
Back to School Campaign
, which resulted in many donations via email and social media posts. Also, a new referral document will be available in nursing stations to help connect potential donors with the fundraising team.
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The
Pediatrics Diversity and Inclusion Committee
is working with the University Office for Diversity and Inclusion to identify a strategic plan and initiatives that align with the broader goals of the university and health care system. The committee is also coordinating several implicit bias workshops to be held in the fall. More to come in the coming months.
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Our unsung hero this month is nominated by Dr. Ali Calikoglu, Interim Division Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology.
Karen Vallecillo-Pereira, MHA,
has shown outstanding performance in her roles as Division Administrator and Fellowship Program Coordinator in the Division of Endocrinology. She routinely demonstrates excellence in planning, strategic thinking, and communications. While we are recruiting for a new Division Chief, Karen succeeds in keeping the Division on track, always multi-tasking while maintaining great attention to details. Karen is a wonderful team player with solid leadership qualities. We are grateful for all of her contributions and most importantly, for her extraordinary loyalty to her colleagues and to our institution.
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